Chicago Cultural Alliance

Online Lunch & Learn: ﻿Jewish and Indigenous People of Australia
2022-06-07 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago) | Online Event
Travel with author and Jewish historian Irene Shaland to Australia, from Sydney and Melbourne to the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest, to understand the land, its people, and their history. Discover how Aboriginal people played an important role in opening Australia to Jewish refugees escaping from the Nazi occupied Europe and how, years later, the descendants of these refugees were at the forefront of the struggle for the human rights of Aboriginal people.
In early December 1938, a delegation of Aboriginal people marched to Melbourne in the Australian state of Victoria. This was not a protest a State or Federal government in defense of their own human rights: it was a brave action demanding Germany to stop the prosecution of the Jews of Europe.
The leader of this march, William Cooper, was the founder of the Australian Aboriginal League and an unsung hero of the Aboriginal human rights struggle. In his own country, Cooper and his people had no legal rights and were officially classified as an equivalent of “flora and fauna.” At the time, Australia maintained the “White Australia Polices” and considered Jews, though not classified as “colored,” to be the “others” who should not be issued entrance visas.

A Queer History Tour of Bronzeville
2022-06-04 12:30 - 15:00 | South Side Community Art Center, 3831 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, 60653, United States
Community member Rachael Pierce will lead a queer-centered history tour, beginning with SSCAC.

About this event

Join us with Rachael Pierce on Saturday, June 4th for a Queer history tour of the Bronzeville area, as well as learning more about SSCAC’s role in highlighting queer histories as they relate to Black artists!
Rachael will also facilitate a storytelling component with Queer elders from the South Side after the tour, to take place on our front stoop.

RUN OF PROGRAM:
Walking tour will begin at South Side Community Art Center, and take place from 12:30PM – 1:45PM.
Storytelling back at South Side Community Art Center will take place from 2PM – 3PM.

Rachael Pierce is a community builder from the South Side of Chicago. She’s a lover of history, black queer herstory to be exact; and as CEO of her production company, Pi360co, Rachael works to create spaces and platforms for queer BIPOC women to bravely share their stories and explore their spirituality.
Her passions meet at the intersection of everything and are influenced by her Queer, Black, Indigenous identity. Rachael believes she is called to empower folks to bravely gather, build community, and share their stories of life and faith.
This program is presented in conjunction with EMERGENCE: Intersections at the Center, currently on view until July 2, 2022.
EMERGENCE: Intersections at the Center spotlights The South Side Community Art Center’s historical role in supporting a full spectrum of Black artists through an intersectional viewpoint. The first exhibition of its kind at the South Side Community Art Center, EMERGENCE positions the Center as an important anchor for Black LGBTQ artists who belonged to its community from its founding in 1940 to the 1980s and beyond.

Community Parades and Activism: LGBTQ Claiming its Space
2022-06-04 11:00 - 13:00 | Online Event
Exhibition Viewing La Primera Parada & Panel Discussion

An open discussion about LGBTQ/SGL activism in Chicago communities. A panel of Latin@ and African American LGBTQ/SGL leaders will discuss the daring experience of walking for the first time on their community parades (1993-1994). A second panel of young activists will react and ask questions contextualizing that historical moment to current efforts and together discuss how to move forward. Some of the panelists include Alden Bell, Bonsai Bermúdez, Charles Nelson, David Gauna, Julio Rodriguez, Liliana Macias, Mona Noriega, Robert Castillo, and Shelton Watson.
The event is presented by the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance in partnership with ADODI Chicago – an SGL brotherhood organization for men of African descent, and ALMA – Association of Latina/o/x Motivating Action. The program is supported by the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation’s Broadening Narratives fund.
The program will mark the exhibition closing “La Primera Parada (The First Parade): Chicago Stonewall Moments at the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance, 3000 N Elbridge Ave (old firehouse near the corner of Central Park and Milwaukee Avenues in Avondale. Street parking is available and at the US Bank employee lot, 3617 W Oakdale, across from the bank’s customer lot).
Lunch snacks will be served. FREE but limited space – Register now.
For information – 773-252-8814 or email jorge@praachicago.org.
Visit PRAA’s website and learn about our digital archive program www.praachicago.org/el-archivo-project.

Harry Ahn Solo Exhibition: "I am not worthless, just Homeless"
2022-06-04 - 2022-06-30 | Korean Cultural Center of Chicago, 9925 Capitol Dr, Wheeling, IL, United States
Ahn’s affinity for people who are struggling came from his own experiences as a refugee in Korea. In all his rendering of the homeless, we are called to recognize the worth and dignity of every human being, knowing that each has untold stories behind their homelessness.

Opening Reception: Harry Ahn: 'I am not worthless, just homeless'
2022-06-03 15:00 - 17:00 | Korean Cultural Center of Chicago, 9925 Capitol Dr, Wheeling, IL, United States

Black Magic: A Tintype Photo Project with Adam Davis
2022-06-03 13:00 - 16:00 | South Side Community Art Center, 3831 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, 60653, United States
Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist Adam Davis brings his 1850’s tintype photo practice to the South Side Community Art Center!

About this event

On June 3rd and June 4th, South Side Community Art Center will host artist Adam Davis and his ‘Black Magic’ tintype photography project. Through this participatory photo activation, Adam will offer free portrait sessions to members of the Chicago community.
Davis will create 2 portraits per session – one for participants to take home and one for his own archive. Traveling to historically Black cities and communities nationwide, Davis is in pursuit of creating 20,000 tintype portraits of Black Americans with the goal of creating the largest contemporary archive of Black American portraits.
Themes of Afrofuturism, celebrating the Art of Magic, and Queerness have become foundational to Davis’ process throughout the project.
Black historical art spaces, such as SSCAC are critical to Davis’ intent to be in conversation with the legacy of Black artistic innovation, community engagement, and Black archival contributions to the culture.
Please read below on how to participate:
Portrait sessions will take place at SSCAC from 1pm – 4pm.
Each portrait session will take 20 – 30 minutes, which includes a chemical development process. Due to the nature of this process, RSVP time selections are required to participate.
We kindly ask that you select 1 time slot for yourself only, so that we’re able honor each participant per session.

Adam Davis (b. 1994) is an American Visual Artist, Educator, and Arts Education Advocate born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Davis obsessively seeks to apply his passion for creativity, communication, and storytelling to assist in finding solutions to problems that hinder diverse and equitable cultural progression at the intersection of the Arts and Education within the Black community. With a degree in Education and 6 years in the classroom, Davis’ work intends to document the lives of Black bodies in a way that educates, empowers, and returns the permission to dictate how they are photographed to the subject. Delving into personal narratives on religion, queerness, mental health, and the greater understanding of the global African diaspora, Davis creates images, both moving and still, from a place of curiosity.
Davis is a resident at the 54 year old Black Owned and operated community arts organization St. Elmo Village in Los Angeles, California. Here Davis developed his darkroom practice on campus in the facilities opened by founder Roderick Sykes. Davis’ second solo exhibition, titled Black Magic, was created at the Village and opened at the Byrd Museum in Los Angeles, where his darkroom practice lies at the center of his practice of making tintype portraits. The exhibition monograph was successfully published soon after by Paper Chase Press and debuted at the New Art Dealers Alliance fair in Miami during Art Basel Week 2021. Davis’ work has been featured in the LA Times, SKEW Magazine, Umber Publications, and AFAR among others.

Artecito Virtual: Conejos
2022-06-02 18:00 - 19:00 | Online Event
Artecito is an online arts workshop for families, presented in Spanish.

¡Los conejos son animales sociales, y viven en comunidades llamada madrigueras!
¡Únase a nosotros mientras exploramos más sobre los Conejos con nuestros amigos en Lincoln Park Zoo!
Conéctate aquí: https://bit.ly/ArtecitoConejo
____________________________________
Rabbits are social animals and live in communities called warrens!
Join us as we explore more about Rabbits with our friends at Lincoln Park Zoo!
Connect here: https://bit.ly/ArtecitoConejo
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Maifest | Celebrate with the DANK Haus!
2022-06-02 - 2022-06-05 | DANK Haus Small Bar at Maifest, 4715 N. Western Ave. (the parking lot at Leland/Western)
We’re so excited to see Maifest happening again this year after years off due to the pandemic!

DANK Haus will be there, running the smaller bar at 4715 N. Western Ave. Support the DANK Haus during the festival with purchases at our bar! We welcome all to stop by, say hi and learn more about what we do. We will have our small bar and info booth at 4715 N Western (the parking lot at Leland/Western)
Want to volunteer with us? Visit https://loom.ly/XmDHoOw to sign up!

Walking in Two Worlds: Understanding the Two-Spirit/Native 2SLGBTQ+ Community
2022-06-01 18:00 - 19:00 | Online Event
Join Two-Sprit leaders Gary Neumann (Salish) and Lenny Hayes (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) on the historical roles and identities of Two-Spirit/Native 2SLGBTQ+ people and how colonization and historical and intergenerational trauma have impacted the Two-Spirit-LGBTQ+ Community. Together, Gary and Lenny will share their knowledge to educate individuals, families, and organizations to understand and support children, adults, elders, and relatives who may identify as Two-Spirit or Native LGBTQ+.

In this session, the presenters will:

Share the history and community roles of Two-Spirit people
Bring awareness to the high rates of violence placed on the Two-Spirit individuals
Discuss the behavioral health issues that impact the Two-Spirit Community
Inform participants how to be an ally to youth and adults who identify as Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ.

Gary Neumann Salish – Pend’Orielle
Gary Neumann is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Nation and identifies as Two-Spirit. He has over 35 years of experience in prevention and human resource development. Gary has worked successfully with various tribal, state, and federal agencies in program design, implementation, and evaluation, focusing on at-risk youth, families, and communities. Currently, Gary works for Tribal Tech as a Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator and serves as a task lead for training SAMHSA staff. He developed a series of newsletters – Spirit-Honor-Inclusion, focusing on Two-Spirit issues. Gary previously served as the Project Manager of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Access to Recovery III Program. He also served as the Training and Technical Assistance Director of the Native American Center for Excellence, a national resource center for Native American substance abuse prevention providing culturally centered training, technical assistance, and information resource services to various Native and non-Native audiences throughout the United States. His work experience includes extensive knowledge of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA), and how it applies to American Indians and Alaska Natives, having developed and conducted ACA trainings for Montana/Wyoming Tribes. Gary is skilled in assessment, capacity building, prevention specialist certification, marketing, grant writing, methamphetamine prevention, youth violence, bullying and suicide prevention, and sustainability. He has developed several culturally appropriate training curriculums and community-based organizing modules and presented and trained at national and international conferences throughout the United States, Alaska, and Canada. He is a certified SAPST Trainer/Facilitator.
Lenny Hayes Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate
Lenny Hayes is an enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe and is the owner and operator of Tate Topa Consulting, LLC and is currently in private practice specializing in Marriage and Family Therapy. He has extensive training in mental and chemical health issues that impact the Two-Spirit/Native LGBTQ+ and Native Community. Hayes speaks across the country on the impact of historical and intergenerational trauma, violence, child welfare issues, and the impact of sexual violence on men and boys. Lenny is the former Missing and Murdered Two-Spirit Project Assistant for Sovereign Bodies Institute and serves as a board or committee member for StrongHearts Native Helpline, Wac’ ang’a (Sweet Grass) Inc. Victim Services, First Nations Repatriation Institute, Southwest Indigenous Women’s Coalition, National Quality Improvement Center on Tailored Services, Placement Stability and Permanency for LGBTQ/Two-Spirit children and youth in foster care, and the National Resource Center for Domestic Violence.

Reel Film Club: Ambush / Emboscada
2022-05-31 18:00 - 21:00 | Instituto Cervantes, 31 West Ohio Street, Chicago, IL, 60654, United States
LIMITED CAPACITY – ALL SALES ARE FINAL
A reception will take place prior to screening with appetizers and drinks provided, and a conversation regarding the film will proceed the screening.
6:00 PM – Appetizers and drinks
7:00 PM – Film screening (Spanish with English subtitles)
Parking adjacent to Instituto Cervantes ($12 with validation)

Ambush / Emboscada

Genre: Thriller
Mexico/2020/81 min.
Directed by René Herrera Guerra
Spanish w/English subtitles
Frank (Ramón Medina from the soap opera “El señor de los cielos”) rents rooms in Nadine’s building for his illicit activities. Nadine is fine with looking the other way as long as she is not directly involved. But when the body of a man he killed a couple of days ago and the merchandise that man carried inside go missing, Frank and his henchmen begin a room by room search of the building with Nadine in tow. But then, the tenants start dropping like flies. Is a killer hidden among them? Herrera Guerra’s debut film is a tense and entertaining crime thriller with a twist that will leave audiences gasping for air.
Frank (Ramón Medina de la telenovela “El señor de los cielos”) alquila habitaciones en el edificio de Nadine para sus actividades ilícitas. Nadine no tiene problema alguno en voltear la cara siempre y cuando no esté directamente involucrada en las acciones del hampón. Pero cuando el cuerpo de un hombre al que mató hace un par de días y la mercancía que llevaba dentro desaparecen, Frank y sus secuaces comienzan a buscar habitación por habitación con Nadine a cuestas. Los inquilinos pronto comienzan a caer como moscas y no porque Frank haya apretado el gatillo. ¿Habrá un asesino escondido entre ellos? Herrera Guerra hace su debut en el cine con este thriller tenso y entretenido con un giro que dejará al público casi sin aliento.

MORE DETAILS
PLAY TRAILER

Swedish American Museum Pop Up Cafe
2022-05-29 11:00 - 15:00, 2022-05-28 11:00 - 15:00, 2022-05-27 11:00 - 15:00 | Swedish American Museum, 5211 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL, 60640, United States
Come to the Museum and join us for Fika in the main gallery. You will always find Cinnamon rolls and Swedish coffee in addition to some other delicious baked goods in the Museum’s main gallery. Enjoy the art and exhibits while taking some time to relax.

Latin Music Project Presents: Fabiola Méndez - Live in Concert!
2022-05-28 18:30 - 20:30 | Latin Music Project Center, 2958 north Milwaukee ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Fabiola Méndez is bringing folk and contemporary Puerto Rican music to Humboldt Park’s back yard. Native to Caguas, PR, Fabiola Méndez is a cuatro player, singer-songwriter, and a composer for many original music projects. In addition, she has been a pillar in the community as an ambassador for the Puerto Rican Parade in New York as well as being the first cuatro player to graduate from Berklee College of Music.

The Crossing Routes of Afro Music: Foundation, History and Cimarronaje
2022-05-27 18:00 - 20:00 | Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, 4046 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL, 60639, United States
Conversation and workshop with Dr. Pablo Luis Rivera, professor, epistemologist, renowned Bomba artist / practitioner and Director of AFROLegado.
POSTER ART “PAZ PARA LAS MUJERES” BY COLECTIVO MORIVIV´I.

Neighborhood Nights
2022-05-26 19:00 - 23:00 | DANK Haus German American Cultural Center, 4740 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL, 60625, United States
Come enjoy a beverage with a spectacular experience in our iconic 2nd floor Brauhaus Room!

A perfect place to meet your neighbors and socialize.

Each 2nd & 4th Thursday of the month from 7-11 PM. Proceeds support the DANK Haus Museum

RSVP here: https://dankhaus.com/event-4491654

NHM Virtual Book Club: Ariadne
2022-05-26 19:00 | Online Event
On Thursday, May 26th at 7pm we will be discussing Ariadne by Jennifer Saint Virtually via Zoom

About this event

Join the National Hellenic Museum’s Virtual Book Club!
Facilitated by NHM’s Resident Scholar Dr. Katherine Kelaidis & Manager of Programs & Events Cairo Dye, each month the NHM Virtual Book Club chooses a book that is either inspired by the Hellenic legacy or by a Greek American author (and sometimes both!). Then we gather to discuss the book on Zoom.
Book Club is free to join and meets on the third Thursday of each month at 7pm CST
In May, we will be discussing Ariadne by Jennifer Saint.
Support NHM with your purchase of Ariadne! When you buy your copy through this link, a portion of the proceeds will go to NHM: https://amzn.to/3DSmGJB
Click here to see all of our upcoming book selections
More about Ariadne:
Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up greeting the dawn from her beautiful dancing floor and listening to her nursemaid’s stories of gods and heroes. But beneath her golden palace echo the ever-present hoofbeats of her brother, the Minotaur, a monster who demands blood sacrifice.
When Theseus, the Prince of Athens, arrives to vanquish the beast, Ariadne sees in his green eyes not a threat but an escape. Defying the gods, betraying her family and country, and risking everything for love, Ariadne helps Theseus kill the Minotaur. But will Ariadne’s decision ensure her happy ending? And what of Phaedra, the beloved younger sister she leaves behind?
Hypnotic, propulsive, and utterly transporting, Jennifer Saint’s Ariadne forges a new epic, one that puts the forgotten women of Greek mythology back at the heart of the story, as they strive for a better world.

Puerto Rican Art as a Territory of Re-existence: A Decolonial Approach
2022-05-26 18:00 - 20:00 | Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, 4046 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL, 60639, United States
Exploration of scholarship, and artists who contributed to the body and meaning of the continuous rebirth of Puerto Rico’s visual culture

About this event

AFRORRIQUEÑES: Affirmation, Solidarity and Healing
May 25-27 2022 at Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center
A multi-day series committed to the continuous dialogue on Afrodescendencia.
The history of the arts in Puerto Rico has traditionally repeated, observed, and framed the achievements of artists based on their adherence to movements outside the islands, primarily in Europe and the U.S. historical and cultural responsibility to their own contexts of origin. This workshop we will incorporate and explore works of art, scholarship, and artists who contributed to the body and meaning of the continuous rebirth of Puerto Rico’s visual culture.
Dr. Marielba Torres-Muñoz
She serves on the Boards of Directors of the Fundación Puertorriqueña para las Humanidades, (FpH) and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico.
She is currently a researcher in Programa de Diversidad en Afrodescendencia y Racialidad, UPR-RP, sponsored by the Andrew Mellon Foundation (2022). She teaches courses in the Humanities Department of the Faculty of General Studies at the University of Puerto Rico. She has given lectures at different universities in Puerto Rico, the United States, Cuba, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil.
POSTER ART “PAZ PARA LAS MUJERES” BY COLECTIVO MORIVIV´I.

"A Symphony in Stone" Screening and Discussion
2022-05-26 17:00 - 19:30 | DePaul University – Richard M. and Maggie C. Daley Building, 14 East Jackson Boulevard, Room 1601, Chicago, IL, 60604, United States
Join us for a screening of award winning documentary, “A Symphony in Stone,” followed by a discussion with the filmmaker and experts.

About this event

‘A Symphony in Stone’ is a 60 min documentary celebrating the Scottish city of Glasgow’s stunning cityscape and architecture. The film explains how the Glasgow’s phenomenal growth during the industrial revolution bought about innovation in urban planning, architecture and design. Interviews with key experts, aerial photography and archive footage are used to explore the work of well-known architects such as Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, Charles Wilson and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
5:00-5:30pm: Registration and Hospitality
5:30-5:45pm: Welcome and Introduction
5:45-6:45pm: Screening
6:45-7:30pm: Discussion
7:30pm: Conclusion

“The All-American Crew” Book Talk with Author Russell N. Low
2022-05-25 19:00 - 20:00 | Online Event
The Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC) is excited to announce this FREE book talk with author Russell N. Low, as he returns to CAMOC to discuss his new book published this year, The All-American Crew. Register here.

About the book
On January 23, 1943, a B-24 Liberator and its crew of ten men disappeared without a trace in New Guinea, leaving ten families wounded permanently and without closure. Now, after almost 80 years of silence, using long-forgotten letters and dusty photographs from another era, the lives and loves of these ten men are brought to life on the pages of The All-American Crew.

They did not intend to be heroes and would not welcome the description. They were the sons of farmers, oil company engineers, cotton brokers, garment industry workers, and Chinese laundrymen. Many were descendants of the oldest colonial families in America, who set foot on the soil of Colonial Virginia in the 1600s. Others came from families that migrated to America in the 1800s from Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Austria, and China during the tremendous immigration wave that built America. In truth, this group of young men could only have been formed in America. They were the best that America had to offer. Each was willing to sacrifice everything for the country he loved, driven by a patriotic fervor that was only matched by his love of flying.

The All-American Crew is based upon a true story. Stanley’s transformation from a Chinese American boy, not yet old enough to vote or drink beer, into a B-24 Liberator nose gunner is set against the lives of the other nine American men, who are his crew members. Along the way, Stanley experiences loneliness, racism, his first beer, first romance, and the horrors of war, themes that are as relevant today as they were 80 years ago.

Ancestral Reckonings: Why Your DNA Results Don't Match the Records
2022-05-25 18:00 - 20:00 | Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, 4046 W. Armitage Ave., Chicago, IL, 60639, United States
AFRORRIQUEÑES: Affirmation, Solidarity and Healing
May 25-27 2022 at Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center
A multi-day series committed to the continuous dialogue on Afrodescendencia produced by Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center

“Ancestral Reckonings: Why your DNA results don’t match the records”
Conversation and workshop with Melanie Maldonado Diaz, scholar, genealogist, and cultural organizer.
This workshop demystifies the racial triad (Spanish-African-Taino) proposed by colonial narratives and shows how record keepers were complicit in erasing Blackness from archival records in Puerto Rico.
Melanie Maldonado Díaz
Melanie developed the Lugares Históricos project, which highlights Black history sites in Puerto Rico. In 2018, she led a first-of-its-kind community tour of these ancestral spaces for African diasporic gathering and traditional practices and in 2019 began placing historical markers at these locations.
Melanie is committed to creating access, building commUnity, and helping families re-member the legacies of their ancestors. Her bomba research explicates women’s agency, the importance of textiles, genealogy, lineages of learning, songs as critical records, placemaking, and historic spaces of praxis.

POSTER ART “PAZ PARA LAS MUJERES” BY COLECTIVO MORIVIV´I.

Virtual Artist Talk: Charles Philippe Jean-Pierre
2022-05-24 18:30 - 19:30 | Online Event
Join HAMOC and Charles Philippe Jean-Pierre for an artist talk and Q&A.

About this event

Celebrate Haitian Heritage Month with HAMOC!
Charles Philippe Jean-Pierre is a American University adjunct professor in fine arts and an thirteen year veteran in DCPS. His exhibitions include the U.S. State Department, IMF, IDB, Smithsonian, & Embassy of Haiti. He was a 2015 Obama White House invitee for arts in Youth Justice.
Join us as we explore Jean-Pierre’s works!

Young Ukrainian Talent Concert
2022-05-22 14:00 - 16:00 | Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, 2320 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL, 60622, United States
SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2022
2:00 PM
UIMA
$20 SUGGESTED DONATION AT THE DOOR

Please Join Us In Supporting Local Young Talent Within Our Community! Come and See These Rising Stars For Yourself…
Performances By: Volodymyr Kyyak (vocals & guitar), Christian Tsikhun (flute), Elizabeth Romanyuk (piano), Dmytro Zvyntarnyj (viola), Elizabeth Romanyuk (violin), Myroslav Mykhailenko (piano), Julia Perekhozhuk (violin).
The proceeds from this showcase will donated to Ukrainian Relief Efforts

Bengali Spiritual Songs by Ochin Pakhi
2022-05-21 19:30 - 21:00 | South Asia Institute, 1925 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60616, United States
An evening celebrating the folk music from West Bengal and Bangladesh, presented by Ochin Pakhi, a young, fun-loving, enthusiastic, and spiritually inclined ensemble of Chicago-based musicians. Accompanied by traditional instruments, the group will be performing songs and poems of the Nobel laureate, poet, and philosopher, Rabindranath Tagore; Bengali philosopher, mystic, songwriter, social reformer, and thinker Fakir Lalon Shah; the national poet of Bangladesh Kaji Nazrul Islam, as well as traditional folk songs of Bengal and several of their own compositions.

1925 S Michigan Ave. Chicago IL 60616
SAI is wheelchair accessible.
Parking is available around South Asia Institute, with metered and free street parking in the neighborhood.

Ticket includes entrance to SAI exhibitions.

Opening Reception for "Spotlight Series: Nicole Leung"
2022-05-21 15:00 - 18:00 | Chinese American Museum of Chicago, 238 W. 23rd St, Chicago, IL, 60616, United States
The Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC) is excited to announce the second exhibition of the Spotlight Series, featuring artist Nicole Leung. Please join us on Saturday, May 21, from 3:00-6:00pm CT for the opening reception. Leung’s site-specific piece “Untitled (Nicole Leung is too American to be Chinese and too Chinese to be American)” will be on view. This exhibition will run from May 21 through July 2.

The Spotlight Series is a new initiative to showcase recent and past work by emerging and mid-career artists of Chinese descent locally. Curated by Larry Lee (Molar Productions), the project aims to introduce, promote and celebrate the divergent artistic visions and experiences of being Chinese in America looking at and reflecting upon our relationship to contemporary visual culture to a wider audience within our community and Chicago.

RSVP here

About the artist
Nicole Leung is an artist born in Queens, New York, currently based in Chicago, Illinois. A recent graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a BFA in Fine Arts, their work reroutes spatial and interrelational dynamic, considering the roles and circumstances we have come to believe are inherent to life itself.

Nicole explores notions of inclusion and exclusion in their experience of diaspora as a second-generation Chinese-American through the manipulation of the museum space itself, intentionally obstructing the audience’s ability to enter the gallery space and (experience the text within it) to mimic a sense of displacement in fully identifying with, and belonging to, a single culture. This projection of self-assessment is intended to prompt said audience to reconsider their relationship with Chinese heritage in Chicago and throughout the United States, as one that is too often overlooked, overgeneralized, and pushed to the peripherals of our visions.

I bet you can tell just by looking at the back of my head.

'Operation Dangun' Book Signing Event
2022-05-21 15:00 - 16:00 | Korean Cultural Center of Chicago, 9925 Capitol Dr, Wheeling, IL, United States
Sat. May 21, 2022, 3pm
Korean Cultural Center of Chicago
@ Gallery
9930 Capitol Dr.
Wheeling, IL. 60090
RSVP by May 10
mina@operationdangun.com
Inquiry: 312.532. 4688 Mina
847.947.4460 KCCoC

“Chinese Brothers, American Sons” Book Talk with Author Ed Shew
2022-05-21 14:00 - 15:00 | Online Event
The Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC) is pleased to host this FREE book talk with Ed Shew, author of the historical novel Chinese Brothers, American Sons. Register here.

Two Chinese brothers arrive in America in 1854 on a death ship to escape poverty and oppression in China. Li Chang and Li Yu, ten years younger, search for Gold Mountain in the historical novel, Chinese Brothers, American Sons. Fighting the inhumanity and discrimination of the West, they work perilously to drive in the Golden Spike in 1869 and become inspirational builders of the first Transcontinental Railroad and this country.

From the author
“It’s the story of two Cantonese brothers who along with tens of thousands of men from southern China conquer the back-breaking construction of the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860s, the tunnels through the granite of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. No first-hand account describing the life of a Chinese railroad worker of the Transcontinental Railroad has ever been found. Historians have searched this nation and the winding road back to China, to the roots of these forgotten, invisible men. Many were literate, yet not a scrap of their writing remains. As a Chinese American, my goal is to tell this little-known story of these brave adventurers.” – Ed Shew

"A Family Meal" Art Installation Launch and Fundraiser
2022-05-21 13:00 - 15:00 | Ping Tom Memorial Park, 1700 S Wentworth Ave, Chicago, IL, 60616, United States
The Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC)’s Associate Board and People Matter have collaborated on an art installation exploring the relationship between food and the Chinese American family. The art installation will also raise awareness for the Museum’s upcoming exhibition Chinese Cuisine in America: Stories, Struggles and Successes, scheduled to open later this year. Please join us for the launch and support our upcoming exhibition! We hope to raise $500 and promote our 21st Benefit Dinner.

Artist Talk: Wanting it Both Ways
2022-05-21 13:00 - 14:30 | Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, 2320 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL, 60622, United States
Join UIMA to learn about their current exhibition “Wanting it Both Ways” and hear from the featured artists: Bill Conger, Tanya Hastings Gill, Mie Kongo, and Jennifer Mannebach.

Triff ein Opfer des DDR-Geheimdienstes | Meet a Victim of the GDR Secret Service
2022-05-21 11:00 - 13:00 | IL, United States
Saturday, May 21 on Zoom

11:00 AM (Chicago) | 18:00 (Germany)
[This event will be presented in German]

Teilnehmer bekommen die Zoom Link per Email 1-2 Tage vor dem Event.

Am 13. Februar 1988 entschließt sich der damals 31-jährige Dresdner Harry Schulz zu einer Demonstration zu gehen, die an die Zerstörung Dresdens am Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges erinnert. Er hält ein Plakat mit der Aufschrift: “Nie Wieder so ein Inferno, aber Freiheit für andersdenkende Menschen.”

Innerhalb von zwei Minuten verhaftet ihn der DDR-Geheimdienst. Nach 12 Stunden Verhör wird er in die Untersuchungshaftanstalt der Staatssicherheit (Stasi) in der Bautzner Straße in Dresden gebracht und nur 19 Tage später vor Gericht gestellt. Das “Schnellverfahren” ergibt als Urteil ein Jahr, das er im Strafvollzug verbringt.

Am Samstag, dem 21. Mai dieses Jahres, mehr als 30 Jahre nach diesem Vorfall, laden die Gedenkstätte Bautzner Straße Dresden und das DANK Haus German American Cultural Center Chicago dazu ein, den ehemaligen Untersuchungshäftling kennen zu lernen und ihm persönlich Fragen über seine Inhaftierung Zeit und Leben in der DDR zu stellen.

Cost: Free

Learn more: https://dankhaus.com/event-4803186
